EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted
A rename crossed a filesystem boundary, which the OS will not do atomically.
91 issues · 11 open · 80 resolved (88%) · first seen Dec 20, 2025
First response · local
What to do now
Most likely: The operating system rejected a file or directory operation.
- Read the first path in the error and verify that it exists and belongs to the expected user.
- Check disk space, permissions, symlinks and whether another process holds the target.
- Reproduce with the smallest affected path before changing project-wide permissions.
These are conservative triage steps, not an official Anthropic fix. Use the issue and workaround evidence below before making a destructive configuration change.
Is this getting better or worse?
This class of problem is converging. 14 new reports in the last 90 days vs 54 in the 90 before — -74%. The open backlog peaked at 18 in 2026-04 and sits at 11 today.
Derived by counting each matching issue from its creation date until it closed. First-party
computation over the anthropics/claude-code tracker — the trend is not published
anywhere upstream.
Which builds report this
27 of these reports name the Claude Code build they were running, spanning 21 releases. Heaviest reporters:
- Claude Code v2.1.87
- Claude Code v2.1.78
- Claude Code v2.1.63
- Claude Code v2.1.19
- Claude Code v2.1.219
- Claude Code v2.1.220
- Claude Code v2.1.217
- Claude Code v2.1.208
Report volume, not a defect count: an issue can mention a build without that build having caused the failure. Versions come from the version string in the bug-report template, matched against real published tags.
Do these get fixed?
Median time to close is 4 days across 80 closures. Of the 80 closures with a recorded reason, 19% were closed as completed and 65 as not-planned or duplicate. The most recent completed fix landed in 2026-08.
Workarounds reported by the community
52 of these issues post a workaround someone says worked. The highest-engagement ones:
- [BUG] Plugin install fails with EXDEV when /tmp is tmpfs
- …by default - Many users have /home on a separate partition Workaround Set TMPDIR to a location on the same filesystem as ~/.claude: Or permanently in shell profile: Suggested Fix Catch EXDEV error and fall back to copy+…
Found in the description of #14799 · resolved - [BUG] [Desktop App] Cowork VM completely broken on Windows 11 Insider (MSIX) - Unresolved EXDEV rename bug in v1.1.4010
- …loop with "Funzione non corretta" (ERROR INVALID FUNCTION): Workarounds attempted (all failed) Workaround Result --- --- Clean reinstall with admin rights Same EXDEV error NTFS junction from bundle dir → MSIX sandbox ret…
Found in the thread of #27897 · resolved - [BUG] Background tasks ignore $TMPDIR and hardcode /tmp/claude/
- To work around this problem, I did this: This is the version with the bug. First thing, disable auto update by adding this to : If you are still on version 2.0.76 you're good. If you are on 2.1.1 then you also have to do…
Found in the thread of #15700 · resolved - Plugin install fails with EXDEV when ~/.claude and /tmp are on different filesystems
- …use a temp directory on the same filesystem as the target. Workaround Users can work around this by cloning the repo locally and installing from the local path: Then in Claude Code:
Found in the description of #18115 · still open - [BUG] Cowork EXDEV rename fails on dual-drive Windows 11 MSIX install — symlinks, junctions, and VHD workarounds all fail
- …to fail even though both paths resolve to C:\ on the host. Workarounds attempted (all failed): Deleted vm bundles from both C: and D: Packages paths Added Windows Defender exclusion for AppData\Roaming\Claude Symlink: A…
Found in the description of #42119 · resolved
Excerpts are quoted from the linked issue so you can judge relevance before opening it. Threads that only ask for a workaround, or report that there is none, are excluded. These are community suggestions, not official guidance from Anthropic — read the full thread before applying one.
Matching issues 1–91
Ranked by community engagement (reactions weighted over comments).
- [BUG] Plugin install fails with EXDEV when /tmp is tmpfs
- [BUG] [Desktop App] Cowork VM completely broken on Windows 11 Insider (MSIX) - Unresolved EXDEV rename bug in v1.1.4010
- [BUG] Background tasks ignore $TMPDIR and hardcode /tmp/claude/
- Plugin install fails with EXDEV when ~/.claude and /tmp are on different filesystems
- [BUG] Cowork EXDEV rename fails on dual-drive Windows 11 MSIX install — symlinks, junctions, and VHD workarounds all fail
- [BUG] Cowork EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted — rename within same directory (Windows 11 Pro, OneDrive present)
- Cowork VM: EXDEV error when installing marketplace plugins
- Desktop rewind fails on conversation-only sessions: not on active chain (chain size 2/N)
- Cowork installation fails at 80% on Windows - EXDEV cross-device link error
- [BUG] Claude Desktop (Windows Store / MSIX): Code sessions silently fail to persist due to EXDEV error inside MSIX sandbox, even when everything is on C: — resolved by switching to Win32 installer
- [BUG] MSIX: Code sessions lost on restart — EXDEV error in session save (fs.rename across VFS reparse point)
- [BUG] Cowork/Workspace EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted on Windows 11 — rootfs.vhdx rename fails
- [BUG] [Cowork] Windows: EXDEV error on rename during VM bundle setup (EFS-related)
- [BUG] Windows MSIX/Cowork: in-app Claude Code writes silently virtualized (succeed but don't persist), and in-place updates deadlock on the Cowork VM service's file handles
- [BUG] EXDEV on MSIX workspace setup (rootfs.vhdx rename fails) - Win32 workaround from #48362 no longer exists, no fix available
- [BUG] Cowork VM boot IPC hangs silently — VMCLIRunner blocks UI indefinitely (Win11 25H2, all prerequisites met)
- [DOCS] Plugin authoring guide should warn about plugin.json name collision with marketplace name
- [BUG] Cowork VHDX placement fails with ELOOP on Intel RST VMD Controller 467F — distinct from EXDEV, bash permanently broken since v1.8089.1
- [BUG] Cowork Windows: EXDEV cross-device rename failure causes machine crashes on bundle update — affects all MSIX installs
- Plugin install fails with EXDEV on systems where /tmp is tmpfs
- [DOCS] Missing troubleshooting guide for Cowork "VM service not running" + EXDEV errors on Windows
- [BUG] Dispatch on Windows: VM process killed with SIGTERM after ~3 minutes, causing ConnectionRefused on mobile
- [BUG] Cowork EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted on Windows 11 PRO— root cause identified as luafv filesystem filter + AppData virtualization split
- [BUG] Cowork VM download fails with EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted on Windows 11 Pro (MSIX install)
- [BUG] Cowork: Plugin marketplace fails to load when TEMP directory is on a different drive (EXDEV cross-device link error)
- [BUG] Cowork scheduled task creation fails: "path moved between validation and open" — TOCTOU guard false-positives on FSLogix profile containers
- Claude Desktop (MSIX/Windows Store build) fails to persist session metadata with EXDEV error — sidebar empty on every restart
- [BUG] EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted
- [BUG] EXDEV ERROR When trying to attach a file into claude desktop app
- [BUG] Cannot attach files from Google Drive mounted drive (G:) — EXDEV cross-device link error on Windows
- [BUG] Cowork VHDX rename fails with EXDEV on systems with CldFlt (Windows Cloud Files filter driver) active — Dropbox conflict
- [BUG] CoworkVMService crashes with 'Incorrect function' on Windows 11 Pro 25H2 Build 26200 (v1.1.5749)
- Cowork VM fails to build bundle on Windows 11 Home — VM service stops, bundle empty (rootfs.vhdx/sessiondata.vhdx missing)
- [BUG] Approved plugin install fails with HTTP 404 from Browse Plugins screen
- [BUG] EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted when renaming rootfs.vhdx within same folder - Windows 11 username with space
- [BUG] Windows 11 Home Single Language (Build 26200.8457) Error: EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted, rename ... rootfs.vhdx
- [BUG] Windows: EXDEV error when saving sessions - MSIX VFS rename fails
- [BUG] Claude Desktop Code sessions fail to persist on Windows MSIX - EXDEV cross-device link error
- [BUG] Claude Code "process exited with code 1" on Windows MSIX/Store – credential handoff and Git Bash path validation fail inside sandbox
- DXT ${__dirname} resolves to MSIX-virtualized path, breaking external process spawns
- Cowork scheduled tasks fail with EXDEV on Windows when Documents folder is on a different drive
- [BUG] Cowork Scheduled Tasks: EXDEV cross-device link error on SKILL.md (Documents on different drive than AppData)
- [BUG] Windows MSIX: sessions lost on restart — EXDEV rename failure + AppX filesystem virtualization
- [BUG] Windows: CoworkVMService fails to start — "signature verification initialization failed: failed to get service executable path"
- [BUG] Cowork EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted on Windows 11 Pro 25H2 Build 26200.8037 — persists with CldFlt disabled
- [Windows] Cowork VM fails to start: EXDEV cross-device link not permitted (MSIX install)
- [BUG] Cowork EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted on macOS when ~/Library is on external SSD
- [BUG] Cowork VM renaming fails: EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted
- [BUG] Cowork EXDEV rename failure on Windows 11 Pro 25H2 — MSIX sandbox treats AppData\Roaming and Temp as separate filesystems
- [BUG] Claude Desktop Workspace fails to start: EXDEV cross-device link not permitted (Local\Temp -> AppData\Roaming)
- [BUG]
- [BUG] Cowork VM cannot read SDK binary - MSIX Application Protected encryption blocks virtiofs access
- [BUG] Windows Workspace VM fails with EXDEV (rootfs.vhdx cannot be moved)
- Cowork VM: HCS 0x800701c0 Construct failure when Windows "Containers" feature is enabled (MSIX, Win11 25H2)
- [BUG] signature verification initialization failed: failed to get service executable path
- [BUG] Claude Desktop's MSIX filesystem virtualization causes rename() to fail with EXDEV
- [BUG] Cowork ENOSPC / EXDEV on Windows MSIX install — VM bundle fails to download
- [Windows] Sessions missing in Desktop app — EXDEV cross-device rename fails when projects are on different drive than AppData
- [BUG] Cowork Windows: EXDEV cross-device rename + signature verification failure (two independent bugs)
- [BUG] Cowork Windows: ENOENT rename fails when AppData redirected to secondary drive via junction
- Cowork VM download fails with EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted (Windows MSIX sandbox, v1.1.4498)
- Plugin install fails with EXDEV on cross-device /tmp
- Plugin install fails with EXDEV on cross-device /home and /tmp
- Plugin install fails with EXDEV on cross-filesystem /tmp
- Plugin install fails with EXDEV when home directory is on external drive
- [BUG] Plugin installer tries to use rename() to move files
- Plugin install fails with EXDEV on systems where /home and /tmp are on different filesystems
- Plugin installation fails with EXDEV error when /tmp and /home are on different filesystems
- Plugin installation fails on network filesystems (EXDEV cross-device link error)
- Plugin install fails with EXDEV when /tmp is on different filesystem
- [Bug] Linux self-upgrade races npm postinstall chmod → daemon self-respawn dies with EACCES (posix_spawn), records install_failed
- [BUG] Service error: failed to start server: failed to create named pipe: open \\.\pipe\cowork-vm-service: Access is denied.
- [BUG] Scheduled Tasks fail with EXDEV when Documents folder is on a network share (Windows Folder Redirection)
- Claude Desktop MSIX updates on Windows Server cause session data loss + EXDEV save errors
- [BUG] Cowork fails to install on Windows with redirected user profile (AppData on separate drive)
- [BUG] Cowork EXDEV error on Windows - MSIX virtualization causes cross-device link failure between temp and vm_bundles
- [BUG] CoworkVMService fails to start — "signature verification initialization failed" — Root cause: Windows "Where new apps save to" setting pointing to non-C: drive
- Windows: sessions lost on restart due to cross-drive EXDEV rename failure
- [BUG] Cowork Windows: Multiple wvm- temp folders accumulate in AppData\Local\Temp and are never cleaned up
- Plugin install fails with EXDEV when /tmp is on a different filesystem
- [BUG] [Cowork] Windows: EXDEV error when TEMP is on a different drive than AppData
- Image upload fails with EXDEV (cross-device rename) when user profile AppData is redirected to another volume (Windows)
- Claude Desktop 1.11187.4 - native crash in Cowork/Secure-VM bootstrap on Windows (single-drive C:, not EXDEV)
- Plugin install fails with "EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted" (Windows desktop app)
- [BUG] Windows desktop app: agent tool writes creating new entries at the %APPDATA% / %LOCALAPPDATA% root silently land in the MSIX container
- Windows MSIX: session cards can never be saved when %APPDATA%\Claude contains a reparse point — one-line manifest fix (RoamingAppData\Claude missing from FileSystemWriteVirtualization exclusions)
- [BUG] Bash/PowerShell tool writes under %LOCALAPPDATA% can be silently virtualized — visible only to the writing process tree, absent on real disk
- [BUG] claude update hangs indefinitely (100s+) when falling back from reflink to copy_file_range across filesystems, no timeout or progress indication
- [BUG] Cowork fails on Windows when WindowsApps is on non-C:\ drive and AppData has EFS encryption enforced by group policy
- Cowork/Workspace EXDEV rename fails within the SAME directory (not just cross-Temp/Roaming) — MSIX install, v1.19367.0.0
- [BUG] Cowork memu disappeared.